The student of English at Cheverus High School will learn to use those critical thinking and language skills which foster a love of literature and ensure competence in critical reading, writing, research, listening and speaking. Such competence is a basis for the more important goal-that the study of literature, reflecting diverse cultural traditions, must enhance the graduates' ability to make future choices based upon the Profile of the Jesuit Graduate at Graduation. The literature and language skills taught will ultimately present a compelling case for students to lead morally, empathetic lives as men and women for others.

Courses

Year -- 1 credit
Grade 9

The purpose of Freshman English Class at Cheverus High School is to begin the process of preparation for the college English curriculum. Freshman English students will learn the fundamentals of grammar and composition; they will expand their vocabulary and begin to analyze literature according to plot, character, setting, point of view, theme, and level of irony. Over the course of the year, students will acquaint themselves with the genres of the Short Story, the Novel, Poetry, Drama, and the Epic. Students can expect to write critically and creatively as they discover and explore different genres.

Year -- 1 credit
Grade 9

This course is for students who are very accomplished in English and who are able and willing to cope with a curriculum that is rigorous in content and pace. The course covers the same content as the college prep class but in much greater depth. The workload will be substantially heavier and the expectations will be significantly higher than in the college prep sections. The honors student must be a self-directed learner and an independent worker. The honors student is expected to be an avid reader with exceptional comprehension and assume responsibility for extensive reading. The honors student should be able to express sophisticated concepts through written and verbal means. In short, the honors student should expect to be challenged and should embrace this challenge.

Year — 1 credit
Grade 10

The course's mission is to further prepare students for the intellectual demands of the SAT and a university English curriculum. Students will engage in a thematic study focusing on Alienation of the Individual. Students will analyze diverse works of literature including Homer’s The Iliad, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place and poetry by T.S. Eliot. Movements in literary analysis, analytical essay development, vocabulary through context, reinforcement of grammar fundamentals, and effective expression.

Year—1 credit
Grade 10

The course is founded on advanced theoretical analysis techniques and appreciation for literature as an art form. Honors students read the core texts from English II, engage in an expanded review of T.S. Eliot’s poetry including selections from The Wasteland, survey an additional novel, and analyze a variety of short stories and poems. The Honors students must exhibit developing mastery of grammar fundamentals and analytical essay writing. Movements in literature -- Romanticism, Idealism, Realism, Modernism, and the Gothic -- are introduced and surveyed in their interconnectedness.

Year — 1 credit
Grade 11

This is a survey course designed to challenge and prepare students for intended colleges of their choice. The reading list is composed of both American and British Literature. Focus is given to a specific thematic approach. Content overview includes emphasis placed upon perfecting effective study skills, vocabulary enrichment, comprehensive reading and writing skills, and effective speaking and listening skills. The literature selections are novel based and supplemented by appropriate poetry, short stories, essays, letters, and lyrics. The writing component complements the literature and is practiced consistently. Students are expected to perfect various forms of writing including expository, descriptive, narrative and the term paper.

Year—1 credit
Grade 11

The Honors course uses some of the offerings of the English III program along with additional materials, which present a special challenge to the gifted junior. Juniors contemplating Honors English must understand that daily participation is expected and evaluated as well as nightly reading. Students should be able to express sophisticated, literary analysis through written and verbal means. The honors student must be self directed and assume responsibility for extensive reading, writing, and research. Two extended literary analysis papers will be written, and bi-weekly in class essays are expected to be written with clarity and perfection.

Year — 1 credit
Grade 11

This course is designed to help students become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and to become skilled writers who can compose for a variety of purposes. By their writing and reading in this course, students should become aware of the interactions among a writer's purposes, audience expectations, and subjects, as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effective writing. It is recommended that the student has maintained a solid “A” average during his/her previous two years of Honors English. Weekly formal essays, nightly reading, as well as, summer reading/writing assignments are required. This course meets for one hour, four times a week during 5th period. Students in this course are required to take the AP exam in May.

Year — 1 credit
Grade 12

The purpose of the Senior English Class at Cheverus High School is to complete the process of preparation for the college English curriculum. To that end, the students will reacquaint themselves with the rules of grammar, learn to recognize the characteristics of strong writing, acquire a vocabulary necessary to the understanding and analysis of literature, examine the genres of the Short Story, the Novel, Poetry, Drama, and Journalism, and, in concert with their religious studies, begin to face philosophical questions. Students can expect to write critically and creatively, as they discover and explore different genre, and will complete one project over the course of the year.

Year—1 credit
Grade 12

Building upon the already challenging and rewarding college-preparatory English IV program, English IV Honors demands that its students be literate: they should enjoy reading a multitude of texts from a variety of cultures, and they should speak and write about the literature with both skill and verve. They also should demonstrate that they are independent — able and willing to take responsibility for their own edification. Students would also do well to consider their standardized test scores: students scoring below the 70th percentile on junior year PSAT’s, SAT’s, or ACT’s would likely find the writing standards too rigorous to consider entry into the course.

Year—1 credit
Grade 12

The AP English Literature and Composition class will expose students to the rigors and pleasures of a college level English Literature course. As the AP English Course Description prescribes, the AP student will read literature from several genres and from different periods, ranging from classic American and British texts to translations from a variety of cultural origins. The student will respond to the literature in oral and written presentations. An emphasis will be placed on close reading, that is, the slow, careful examination of the literal, metaphoric, and symbolic meanings of each text as they pertain to the culture from which they originate and to the immediate, contemporary culture of the student. The student will write both analytical essays and creative pieces, but always with the intention of deepening the student’s comprehension of the craft and the magic of literature. The expectations for the student’s writing efforts are high; the excellent AP Literature student will compose sophisticated, well-organized arguments while demonstrating a subtle command of vocabulary and recognition of what it means to write with style. Students should expect a variety of major evaluations: take-home essays with time for research and reflection; in-class, timed essays in response to questions generated by the instructor; and quotations tests, which ask the students to respond critically to six excerpts from either the narrative or the dialogue of the text. Students in this course are required to take the AP exam in May.